Dozens of protesters have gathered at the University of Cape Town this week to show their support for cleaning staff whose work is outsourced - apparently to the cleaners' detriment.

They include members of the Rhodes Must Fall protest group, students, cleaners, members of the National Education, Health & Allied Workers' Union and some lecturers. Similar protests were due to take place at both Wits University and the University of Johannesburg.

The protesters say that some workers at the institution have been asking management to stop the outsourcing of cleaning staff and employ them directly for several years. The workers themselves claim they are ill-treated, underpaid and that even after nearly two decades they are still not directly employed by the university - something they dearly want.

Rhodes Must Fall group member, Kealeboga Ramago, told Eyewitness News that the campaign was sparked by the concerns of the workers on campus, saying: "They want the university to start dealing with their concerns, because of the maltreatment that they get from outsourcing companies." She says the group is urging management to stop outsourcing cleaning staff, claiming they are under-paid and ill-treated.

NEHAWU's Luthando Nogcinisa has been calling for the university to address the workers' concerns, saying: "We welcome and we appreciate the support from the various groups at UCT, including the students and some progressive lecturers."

Eyewitness News quotes another representative, Monica Gqoji, as saying: "These private sector companies are making profit out of public sector funding at the exploitation of labour of workers."

Some of the cleaners claim to be earning just R2,500 a month. They are demanding a salary of R10,500.